Even neighborhoods with high electric-car penetration were able to accommodate the extra grid load with very minimal investment in upgrading local grid infrastructure.

How minimal?

"Of the $5 billion the utilities spend annually to maintain the distribution system, roughly $610,000 was attributable to the need to upgrade it to accommodate EVs," the NRDC wrote. Driving the point home: "That’s about 100th of 1 percent."

In a future where there are double the number of electric vehicles on the road as there are today, the grid might encounter issues if there's no planning to solve for the extra load.

In the meantime, pricing electricity to encourage off-peak charging is a great way for utilities to load balance the system on the demand side without the need to immediately invest in capital expenditures.

"We now know in theory and in practice that these rates are more effective than conventional residential rates at incentivizing charging when its most beneficial to the entire electric system," says the NRDC.